Esther Appeals for the Jews

¹That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.

²The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.

³And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

⁴The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

⁵“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

⁶For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

The Decree of Xerxes

⁷So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.

⁸Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

⁹At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

¹⁰Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

¹¹By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.

¹²The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

¹³A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.

¹⁷In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

Haman’s Plot against the Jews

¹After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

²All the royal servants at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

³Then the royal servants at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the command of the king?”

⁴Day after day they warned him, but he would not comply. So they reported it to Haman to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

⁶And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion oflaying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.

⁷In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan,the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

⁸Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

⁹If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silverinto the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”

¹⁰So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

¹¹“Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.”

¹²On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹³And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

¹⁴A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day.

¹⁵The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

¹On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.

²In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.

³And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.

⁴For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.

⁵The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.

⁶In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

⁷including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

⁸Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

⁹Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.

¹⁰They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

Haman’s Sons Hanged

¹¹On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king,

¹²who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

¹³Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

¹⁵On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁶The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁷This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

¹⁸The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

²⁰Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,

²¹to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar

²²as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

²³So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

²⁵But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

²⁶Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur.Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,

²⁷the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation.

²⁸These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

²⁹So Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.

³⁰And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,

³¹in order to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them and had committed themselves and their descendants to the times of fasting and lamentation.

³²So Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, which were written into the record.

I Take Refuge in You

¹O LORD my God, I take refuge in You;save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,

²or they will shred my soul like a lionand tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

³O LORD my God, if I have done this,if injustice is on my hands,

⁴if I have rewarded my allywith evil,if I have plundered my foe without cause,

⁵then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me;may he trample me to the groundand leave my honor in the dust.Selah

⁶Arise, O LORD, in Your anger;rise up against the fury of my enemies.Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

⁷Let the assembled peoples gather around You;take Your seat over them on high.

⁸The LORD judges the peoples;vindicate me, O LORD,according to my righteousness and integrity.

⁹Put an end to the evil of the wicked,but establish the righteous,O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.

¹⁰My shield is with God,who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹God is a righteous judgeand a God who feels indignation each day.

¹²If one does not repent,God will sharpen His sword;He has bent and strung His bow.

¹³He has prepared His deadly weapons;He ordains His arrows with fire.

¹⁴Behold, the wicked man travails with evil;he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

¹⁵He has dug a hole and hollowed it out;he has fallen into a pit of his own making.

¹⁶His trouble recoils on himself,and his violence falls on his own head.

¹⁷I will thank the LORD for His righteousnessand sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.